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2G: Court grants bail to Shahid Balwa on Principle of Parity

Swan Telecom promoterShahid Usman Balwa was granted bail today by a Delhi Court which applied the principle of parity by taking sign from the Supreme Court and High Court orders providing relief to 10 other accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam. With the release of Shahid Balwa, all corporate executives accused in the case have been granted bail and only the three public servants namely former Telecom Minister A Raja, former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura and Raja's former Private Secretary R K Chandolia are in jail. Special CBI Judge O P Saini, who has dismissed all the prior bail applications moved before him in the case and granted relief to Shahid Balwa on the same conditions imposed by the Supreme Court and High Court while granting bail to the other offenders.

The Court, however accepted the submission of Balwa's counsel Vijay Aggarwal that the charges framed against his client were identical to that of the accused Vinod Goenka, Director of Swan Telecom, who has been granted bail by the Supreme Court. CBI also did not oppose Balwa's bail plea on the ground of parity. The court said that the ten accused referred above in the order have been granted bail by the Supreme Court as well as the High Court and the charges framed against Vinod Goenka and the applicant cum the accused Shahid Balwa are almost identical in nature and follows the principle of parity and accordingly he is admitted to bail. Shahid Balwa, who was in the jail since his arrest since February this year, was granted the relief of furnishing a bond of Rs. 5 lakh with two sureties of the like amount.